For a small debt, a Cévenol man is suspected of having set fire to the car of his debtor's mother: he remains in prison until his trial

Le mis en cause repassera devant les magistrats du palais de justice d'Alès le mois prochain. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

Presented at the courthouse of Alès, in the Gard, for acts committed in the village of Lasalle, the accused requested a delay to prepare his defense.

This is a case that occurred in Lasalle, in the Cévennes Gardoises, on December 26, against the backdrop of a dispute over a few dozen euros which led to an argument between two men. One of them, aged 24 and living in this village for several months, is suspected of having set fire to the car of the mother of the man with whom he had just had a run-in.

Brought before the Alès criminal court on Monday 30 December to be tried immediately, after two days of pre-trial detention at the Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone remand centre, the defendant, who was visibly drunk at the time of the incident and was convicted on 20 December for a repeat offence of driving under the influence of alcohol, is requesting time to prepare his defence, as the law allows him to do.

The defendant “does not of illusion”

Quentin Larroque, the deputy public prosecutor, is requesting that he be kept in detention until his trial. Even though his client “is under no illusion”, Me Olivia Betoe, the defense attorney, “recalls that judicial supervision is the principle. I think we can still leave him outside…”

The court does not agree: the accused is returned to his cell until his judgment, heard on January 20.

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